good enough to hunt?

[Guru]

If you've been hunting for a while like you say bud, you should be able to answer that question yourself....

[Roy Steele]

Become a hunter and all your shots are under 20.Shooting at a paper plate or I should say a whole paper plate will teach you to shoot at the whole deer.Put a inch SPOT on that plate.Better yet I only shoot at deer targets.I like to get the ones with a good crease in the front leg.And this crease is the kill zone and great aiming point.This gets your mine set into the deers shape and the kill zone your to shot at.
   So when that deer walks up and your instints kick in you know that shape and you know that front leg crease.All you need to do is draw and pick a spot.Next thing you know your arrows in the deer.And you don't remember doing it.
  It you have to remember drawing,canting your bow,anchoring and a dozzen other things at the moment you know your going to shoot your not realy shooting instintive.All you should do is pick a spot.When your shooting only constrate on your spot nothing else........

[Roy Steele]

I never think yards.I stump shoot a lot never think that stumps 18 years or that one 23.You have no sightes.Its all hand,eye and if you shoot enough unknown distances with out the budern of haveing to know how far you targets are.
  People that need to know are aiming the arrow some how.Good on the range at known distances and hunting the 10 ring but not a good way for hunting.Unless theres time to use a range finder.NOT.Learn to be a hunter and all your shots will be close.

[ishiwannabe]

I hardly ever shoot known distances. I had a 3D target until a bear took it apart. Now I mainly stump shoot... I shoot as far as I want to when practicing. Anywhere from three feet to 40+ yards. I pick the smallest target I can, burn a hole in it, draw, ANCHOR(had issues with that myself) and release. It is amazing how many times you hit, or are so close it should have.
When hunting, I generally scope out my surroundings and do the same..."I know I could hit that leaf, mushroom, stick, etc." Then I use those as a reference if a shot presents itself.
Two years down as "trad only", no shots the first, two last year. I whiffed on em both. Simply did not pick a spot.

IMVHO, roving and stump shooting work the best, atleast for me, for preparing for a hunting scenario. Keep your range down to what YOU KNOW you can do, and go from there.

Good luck.

[swampbuck]

At the moment when it's time to shoot only you can answer that

Can you make the shot or do you think\\hope you can make the shot ??

If you "know" you can make the shot it's close enuff

Good luck.....oh yea LOL  real spots like fat wrinkles or something are easier to focus on than imaginary spots

[Dartwick]

After years of "instinctive" shooting(and lots of practice), my main realization is I usually end up deer hunting with a gun because I dont want to wound and lose a deer.

My gut feeling is that many other instinctive shooters probably shouldnt shooting be shooting at big game either.

[Molson]

Originally posted by Dartwick:
After years of "instinctive" shooting(and lots of practice), my main realization is I usually end up deer hunting with a gun because I dont want to wound and lose a deer.

My gut feeling is that many other instinctive shooters probably shouldnt shooting be shooting at big game either.

Bowhunting is not for everyone  

Exactly what James and Curt said.  If you think you're ready, just go hunt. The irony to all this good advice is, most of the shots I've missed (and probably everyone else too) have been 10 yard or less, smell those backstraps sizzling, chip shots that I could make with my eyes closed (but apparently not open!  :D )

[MI_Bowhunter]

Originally posted by James Wrenn:
Well if you can hit a deer at 3ft and you want to hunt you are ready.

The real answer is if you will pass on a 4ft shot because you know it is too far or not.The mark of a good bowhunter is not the shots he makes.It is those he passes on instead of hopeing to make shots he knows he is not ready for. jmo

I totally agree.   We can't hold ourselves to another's standard when we are the ones making the shot.  We each have to find out own comfort zone.

[Daddy Bear]

Originally posted by James Wrenn:
Well if you can hit a deer at 3ft and you want to hunt you are ready.

The real answer is if you will pass on a 4ft shot because you know it is too far or not.The mark of a good bowhunter is not the shots he makes.It is those he passes on instead of hopeing to make shots he knows he is not ready for. jmo

That's a great post worth repeating.

The only thing I can add is that making a habit of only shooting at small well defined marks can become a crutch. Persons that do well on uniform targets with highly visible marks can become lost when shooting on bland irregular targets without defined marks unless they practice such. I witnessed two pro staffers earlier this week who shot like a ball of fire on spot targets come completely apart while they were filming a hunt for TV. In fact, I thought their performance was fairly poor in the field. I later noticed while stumping that I had little trouble hitting odd shaped bland objects of various sizes at various distances where they struggled when they didn't have a target with a contrasting small mark to focus upon.

I like to mix it up when I practice with a whole bunch of small game hunting thrown in for good measure. Hard realistic practice makes for an easy hunt:)

[jrchambers]

hunting skills will develop as will your shooting
if you want to get good enough to hunt then you need practice,  bowhunting is a game of mistakes in all aspects of the hunt thats why it is so much fun to pull it off.  ive taken shots i shouldnt have but i belive that is why i can let down now.....

[frassettor]

Originally posted by Dartwick:
After years of "instinctive" shooting(and lots of practice), my main realization is I usually end up deer hunting with a gun because I dont want to wound and lose a deer.

My gut feeling is that many other instinctive shooters probably shouldnt shooting be shooting at big game either.

:rolleyes:    

[Shawn Leonard]

What is the deal with Rick rendos answer!! If what he states was the case their would be very few if any of us hunting. I know no one that can do that everytime. If you can keep them in a 6" circle everytime at 20 yards and smaller at under 20 and you feel confident ya can kill something go hunt. I killed my first Trad deer in 97 and I could not keep every shot in a paper plate at 15 yards, so I shot him at 3 yards instead, no one can make the decision when you are ready but yourself. Shawn

[Don Stokes]

I shoot foam targets mainly to make sure all my arrows are shooting the same. For hunting practice, I wander with a judo arrow, shooting at random distances. You learn pretty quickly how far you can shoot and hit and under what conditions, and once you know that, you're ready to hunt! Don't worry too much about wounding a deer, as long as you're confident that you are capable of making the shot when you try. Things can go wrong, but you can't let that possibility ruin it for you. Otherwise, you'll never enjoy hunting.

[Dartwick]

Well this year I stopped "instinct" shooting. Im more accurrate.  

I wasnt suggesting bow hunting was a bad idea.
 
I was suggesting that Im probably not the only hunter who is better off using more classical techniques(like Howard Hill or Byron Fergeson) rather than the focus on the target plan which is so popular.